I open my eyes to see a world of darkness. It was void of anything, just a dark abyss. I stand up, looking around before seeing a man purely in white, sitting on a white chair. The man lifted his head up. My eyes dilated in shock. "How could it be?" I thought to myself.
The pure white man said, "Let me guess you are asking yourself how could it be right."
I nodded, not saying a word. He smiled and continued, "Well, LockHeart, I am you, you are me. I am the 'demon', you are the 'angel'. They lock me up, they fear me. You, on the other hand, aren't. They also did a good job, in my opinion. They prevented us from uniting for a really long time, far too long. Luckily for us, you were able to find our roots. Now let me ask you, Lockheart, do you want to go back? "
Hearing his words, I couldn't understand. Questions start to surface. "How is he, me? Why do they need to lock him up? Go back? What does he mean to go back?" I look at him, trying to read his face, but I achieve no result.
Seeing me contemplate, he walked toward me slowly. Quickly, I went into a stance. My reaction caused him to smile even further. As he got closer to me, I felt a connection. I could only describe it as happiness, being happy to finally find a long-lost brother. However, I don't have a brother, not even parents. I am an orphan. So why, out of nowhere, did I feel this emotion?
He got closer and closer toward me. Stuck in a dilemma of emotion, I don't know what to do. He raised his hand, opening it up before putting it on my head. At that moment, everything seemed so clear to me. Visions and images of me appear, freezing me in thought. Words cannot describe my feelings. It's like watching a movie, but not at the same time. It's like living life, but you feel like a spectator.
Time passes by as I slowly digest the meaning of these visions. As the last memory passed by, I slowly opened my eyes to see that no one was there. I slowly raise my head before mumbling "Thank you."
In the outside world, I can see that time has not passed. Looking around, I can see that the rest of the guys have already dispatched every single demon insight, albeit them being really exhausted. Everything else is fine. The rest of the gang came together, arranging themselves in a formation again. We were about to journey ahead before we heard rapid breathing coming from the left room.
Tompson signals everyone with his eyes before shouting "Who goes there in the room at the left?"
Seconds passed and we heard no response. Tompson shouted again to confirm, "I will count to three. If you don't respond, we will not help you," Tompson started counting "One! Two! Thr..."
A voice of a male came from the door, "We are here sir."
Hearing a response, Tompson asked, "You're not alone."
The male responded, "Yes sir, we have three females and two males."
Tompson continued asking, "Alright, come out. There is no demon outside. " As he said, he signaled us to be on guard.
Footsteps can be heard slowly coming to the door, before the door opens up. True to the man's word, there were two males and three females walking out with their hands in the air to show that they were harmless. Seeing that there are survivors, some of the members smiled in hope of finding more. I, on the other hand, was thinking of something else.
I walk toward my comrade before whispering "How about we test the effect of the fiery ember on one of them?"
My comrade looked at me before turning to the survivors, weighing the benefits. Arthur, who proposed the idea in the first place, quickly agreed. The other was hesitating before steeling their resolve to accept my proposal.
Seeing them agree, I asked them who we should pick. Arthur said "We should pick the girl in the middle; she looks sick and skinny too. At the end of the day, she's most likely to fall behind. " Hearing his words, some of us nodded in agreement.
However, William quickly disagreed, "We should protect the females. A man's duty is to protect the weak. We should take the man." Hearing William work, all of us are almost tempted to punch him dead right there. Men duty my ass, it is a waste to sacrifice a healthy male for a goddamn woman. Especially in the apocalypse.
Hearing William, everyone else got more motivated to vote for the girl. Seeing that everyone except William agrees, I walk toward the girl before commanding her, "Hey you, the woman in the middle. Go touch one of the fiery embers floating around us."
The woman looks at the demon corpse that's turning into a fiery ember before her face turns pale, begging, "Please sir, I don't want to touch the fiery ember."
I simply ignore her and walk even closer before saying in a deeper voice, "Did you hear me say the word, your highness?"
The woman hearing my response started sobbing and continued begging, "Sir, please pick someone else. I don't want to touch the fiery ember."
William couldn't take more of this and shouted at me, "What the hell Lockheart, you clearly know she's crying. Why do you insist on forcing her?"
The woman seeing William defend her had a twinkle in her eyes before Slap! Her face has a red finger print. Everyone's eyes widened from my action, but I simply ignored it before grabbing her hair. I said to her in a threatening tone, "Listen here girly, I give you another chance to go and touch that fiery ember."
Fear crept into the woman's eyes, her body shaking before standing up. Crying from my treatment toward her. William, trying to be a knight in shining armor, caught her hand before saying, "You don't have to do this," before looking at me, "and you can't force her."
I grinned widely before slowly growing to four meters. I drew my hand back before quickly jabbing toward William's stomach. Boom! William was sent flying, coughing up blood from his mouth. I patted my hand before saying, "Alright, now that distraction is out of the way, girly, you can continue."
The room atmosphere changes quickly. Some of my colleagues faces morph into frowns. Contemplating my action, the survivor didn't know what to say, they only had fear in their eyes. Seeing a man grow to four meters. The shaking girl, seeing no hope of preventing her from touching the fiery ember, just continues walking toward one. Slowly, her hand wandered toward the fiery ember. Her body was shaking crazily, either from fear or sadness. Who knows, who cares?
In an anticlimactic moment, nothing happens to her. Seeing nothing happening, I asked her, "Do you feel anything different?" With a shaky voice she said "No, I… Don't… Feel… Anything... Different " Hearing her answer, I didn't buy it. I asked again with a heavier voice, "Don't lie, tell me the truth, or you'll suffer the same fate as your hero right there."
She looked at the bloodied William before answering again. "A panel appeared. Sob, it shows, sob, it shows two options: "Human or Demon" Hearing her words, I said to her, "Pick Demon or else."
Hearing my command She froze before she started begging, "Please sir, I don't want to be one of them." Ignoring her plea, I slowly walked toward her before slapping her again. Every time you beg, I slap you; now choose demon.
Tompson who was watching the whole thing had enough before saying "Alright enough Lockheart, don't force her to pick, demon. You saw the creature. Why would you force her to pick a demon? "
Not caring for his word, I continue to force the woman to pick the demon. Seeing me ignore him, Tompson threatened me, "I said stop Lockheart, or else we will be forced to stop you."
I didn't respond. I slowly walk toward Tompson. Being smart, Tompson quickly shouted, "Everyone cooperate, we can't let Lockheart do his sadistic act." After that, he buffs everyone with strength and defense.
Longbottom was the first to confront me. He aimed his punch toward me. I responded by grabbing his arm, which John took upon himself to send a double hit toward me. I ignored his punch, before retaliating with a punch of my own. My punch barely grazed him, which he swiftly dodged. Longbottom also did a punch of his own with his open hand aiming for the face. I ducked before doing a quick kick to his leg. Having no room to dodge, he tanks my kick with his metallic leg. Staggering both of us, John did a lightning fast punch toward my abdomen. Luckily for him, it was a quadruple crit, which made me groan in pain.
Using my moment of vulnerability, both of them took another hit at me. Ignoring my pain, I respond to them with my punch. John, who was really close to me, didn't dodge in time and chose to block. It was a big mistake, for he was sent flying toward the wall, knocking him unconscious with blood flowing from his mouth. Longbottom now enrages me, rapidly punches me, which I either block or dodge. I would like to say this battle is at a standstill, but it isn't. Longbottom, while strong in defense, is garbage in offense. His punch is only slightly stronger than a normal human thanks to Tompson buffs.
During the whole duel after John was knocked out, Longbottom turned into a punching bag. Arthur, at the back, seeing the hopeless fight, thinks of a plan before he runs toward one of the survivors. He said to them, "Hey, do any of you have a lighter?"
One of the males' hands shook as he pulled a light from his pockets. Arthur, like an eagle, snatches the lighter, igniting the flame before using his card power, Fire Manipulation. The flame, like a sentient being, flew toward me. Feeling the heat coming back at me, I instinctively jumped back. Arthur, seeing that happen, manipulated the flame in my direction. With nowhere to run, I hastily ran toward Arthur, hoping to knock him out before he could burn me. Longbottom, being the shield he is, blocked my path toward Arthur.
Feeling more danger from the flame, I use all my strength to lift Longbottom, before throwing him to the side. With an open path ahead of me, I run freely toward Arthur. Feeling threatened, Arthur starts backward walking quickly. Sadly, his futile attempt to distance us was useless. I quickly closed the gap before clutching my hand over his head, freeing it from his body. The blood rains down toward my face, as I grin widely, dropping the corpse. I turn toward Longbottom before again barraging him with punches. He screams in pain as his body slowly deforms him with holes. I laughed. Yes, I was laughing hard at his pain.
The rest of the people that were conscious or alive stared at me in horror. One of the male survivors peed his pants in fear, while the girls did the same. I slowly got up, before licking my hand stained with blood. I slowly walked toward Tompson before punching a hole through his heart, finishing him off. After that, I killed John, who was unconscious.
I then glance at the survivor before saying, "Alright, one of you go and grab the William guy, and wake him up."
Hearing my command, one of the guys quickly and shakenly goes to grab William, waking him up. William woke up to the bloody scene and asked the male survivor in a sad tone, "What happened?" Not waiting for the survivor to answer, I just grabbed William's hair before saying to the girl near the fiery ember, "Now that there's no distraction, pick demon."